High FG in secondary, re-pitch more yeast?

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RyanWT

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So, I racked my Amarillo IPA from my primary to the secondary last night and I'm now thinking I should have left it in the primary longer. Can I add some yeast to the secondary?

I had an OG of 1.068 added re-hydrated Safale 05 yeast and let it ferment for 3 weeks at 62 deg. The air lock was bubbling, and there was about 1.5 inches of krausen on the sides when I took the lid off. However, I had an FG of 1.024. Instead of being patient and letting it sit longer I went ahead racked to secondary and dry hopped it. I threw out the trub from the primary (fatal error?).

I tasted a bit of it and it sure is good, but way too sweet. In hindsight, I should have probably checked the gravity once or twice before the three week point and stirred the yeast a bit to keep it going. Still learning.

What do I do now? Should I re-hydrate some more yeast and add it to the secondary? Hopefully I didn't screw it up beyond the point of recovery. I did search around on the forum a bit and couldn't find a similar situation, so any advice would be helpful!
 
Ideally you would have waiting to move it until about a week after the krausen fell (or not move it at all- I don't!). But since you've already racked it, you could try just waiting it out. It might start up again. Check the SG in about 5 days or so to see if it's dropped any.

Next time, don't dryhop until about a week before packaging. You want to keep the hops aroma and flavor and not dryhop more than about a week or so.
 
I assume you checked the gravity more than once before racking to the secondary. When you racked it, its possible you stirred things up to drop the gravity a tiny bit. If you re-pitch, I would be ready to wait a good 10 days at least to let the new yeast do its thing and settle out.

If it were me, I'd do what Yooper said and wait about 5-7 days and get what you get. Also, next time you are doing a beer with an estimated gravity over 1.060, I'd consider making a starter.

[edit] What temperature did you ferment at? Its possible you were a little on the cool side and are just getting a slow fermentation.
 
Yes, after reading I think I would have kept a better eye on it during the primary and just dry hopped in there. I was probably on the cool side of the fermentation at 62 +/- a couple degrees, but the recipe said 60 and the yeast temp range started at 59. I did take 2 or 3 readings with my wine thief right before racking and all came out the same.

The beer is a tad cloudy, so hopefully there is still some active yeast present. I'll bring the temp up a few degrees to 65 and see what happens over the next several days. Would a yeast nutrient help at this point? I've never used it before but doesn't it help with attenuation?

Thanks for the tip on doing a starter, definitely will do that next time around.
 
I don't know if adding nutrient now would do any good or not. I'd just leave it as is. If you were on the lower end of the temperature range for the yeast, then it will ferment slower than if it was at the higher end of the range. That doesn't make it bad, and it can be better in some ways, but it will just take a little longer.
 
My guess is you were just on the low side of the temp for the yeast. During initial fermentation, it's own generated heat kept it going. Once the main activity was past, the temp came down, the yeast stalled, and may have dropped out of suspension. For this yeast, this temp would have been below 60 F. How good is your thermometer.

Racking off the yeast, left most of it behind. But there will still be some yeast in suspension. Heat it up (to about 70 F) and see what happens, you don't worry about off flavors from the yeast, the flavor profile is already set.

If you get no additional activity in the next few days, add some more yeast. A new pack will work slowly, because the conditions do not allow it to reproduce, so you will be working with a less than optimum number of yeast cells.

An alternative is to rack the beer onto yeast cake if you have one coming free soon.
 
Okay, so I brought the temp up to 67 degrees and waited a couple days then took another reading. Still was stuck at 1.024. I stopped by my LHBS and they recommended making a starter with the same yeast (Safale 05) and re-pitching back in the primary. I did this and swirled it one or twice during the 5 extra days of fermentation. I just took the lid off tonight to take another reading and I'm only at 1.021 and there is no krausen.

What the heck am I doing wrong? :confused:

I did move my temperature probe more towards the bottom of the fridge (I'm using a JC A419 controller), and set it for 67 +/- 2 degrees. Maybe I should have gone even warmer (different from what the recipe said.)

It has been a month now and I really want this beer to be finished! I think I'm just going to move it to the secondary, dry hop it and bottle it up next weekend.

Thoughts?
 
It has been a month now and I really want this beer to be finished! I think I'm just going to move it to the secondary, dry hop it and bottle it up next weekend.

Thoughts?

Didn't you say that it was already in the secondary fermenter? I wouldn't go bottling it until you're sure it has stopped or you'll be creating potential bombs.. at least 3 days of a constant gravity will usually confirm a finished fermentation. It's hard to wait if you're eager to finish your beer but unfortunately you don't choose when to finish, your beer does and as everyone will tell you around here, every single fermentation is different... Hang tight!
 
Starter with dry yeast? If it's to the point of repitching with back up yeast, I'd have just pitched the pack dry and maybe brought it up closer to the higher end of the range. 67F is still right in the middle.

Extract or AG? Fresh ingredients? Recipe? If the repitching doesn't work even at warmer temps, you probably just have some unfermentables higher than expected. It is what it is.
 
I'm in the same boat as you, first big beer and racked to secondary a little too soon. It stuck at 1.030. I pitched another pack of US-05 and added a few teaspoons of super ferment to help it. So far, after a few days, no visible activity, but I doubt that means nothing is happening. I'll check the gravity in about another week and see if it's dropping. I think all we can do is wait at this point.
 
Keep it simple. If ferm time is less then 5 weeks don't need to secondary. Less chance of oxidation and contamination.
I ferm for 3 weeks min then dry hop 7 days then bottle/keg unless it's a stout.
 
Zippy, it was in the secondary, but my LHBS had me put it back in the primary before pitching again. I definitely had a constant gravity for 3 days probably closer to 5 days before re-pitching. Bottle bombs don't sound fun, so I'm hangin tight!

HomebrewMTB, yes, a starter with dry yeast. My LHBS explained that you want to grow healthy yeasts in a starter and pitch right when they are done breaking down the simple sugars. Ideally they would be ready for more complex sugars that are left in the brew. The recipe was Amarillo IPA https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/all-amarillo-ipa-28517/. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I steeped an extra 1/2 lb of Crystal 40 and intend to dry hop with 1 oz. I just bumped the temp up to 70. I'll recheck in a couple days.

smalliewader,
Good luck! Waiting on a slow/stuck fermentation is the pits. Especially when it smells so good!

kapbrew, thanks for the tip. So you dry hop right in the primary? That does make things simpler.
 
Either I'm lazy or I like simplicity. :) Well I'm building a ferm chamber from freshly cut down trees. Not!! So I may not be lazy. I've read a ton and practiced all the good advice and haven't had a bad batch. I always keep it simple. Also since you now have a secondary free, you can now have 2 batches brewing at all times. :)
 
Hmmm... the moral of the story?


Don't secondary??? :D



EDIT: unless brewing a beer requiring a second fermentation.


Just stirring the pot a little. To each his own! :mug:
 
nefarious_1_ said:
Hmmm... the moral of the story?

Don't secondary??? :D

Nope. Moral of the story is don't play with it too much. Bad things can happen. :p.
Unless its big, like a ris, then secondary is goooood.
 
Nope. Moral of the story is don't play with it too much. Bad things can happen. :p.
.

That's what she said.



So pitching yeast in a secondary is not recommended is that the final answer??

Reason I ask is I have an imperial stout that is not were I wanted it to be when I took a gravity reading after I racked it to the secondary. Yes it was done fermenting, it was in the primary for 2 weeks.

It had 14oz of coconut and french oak chips added when it went to secondary. Can I repitch or is that simply a bad idea and I just need to live with what I have??

For this batch the OG 1.086,,,, 1.046 when checked before going to secondary. I was hoping it would get to 1.026 or there about.

I don't think the FG is going to change or go below 1.040 to be honest which is why I thought about pitching again in secondary.

Thoughts?????????????
 
A nice polite bump to see what those experienced guys think of pitching yeast in secondary??

If I where a gambling man I'd say 99% will say hell no but I'm still going to ask.
 
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